Montana Supreme Court Restores Election Integrity Measures
Breaking news on this Tuesday night: The Montana Supreme Court has overturned a Yellowstone County District Court Judge and restored at least two election integrity measures signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT).
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen responded Tuesday afternoon:
Jacobsen: I am grateful that the Supreme Court recognized the importance of orderly, safe, and secure elections.
The Montana Supreme Court ruled that keeping election laws that have already been in effect for over a year would be less disruptive on the electoral process. Here's an excerpt from the order:
Since we have determined that the status quo is best maintained by staying the preliminary injunction and since we are further convinced that staying the preliminary injunction would cause less voter confusion and disruption of election administration, we conclude that Jacobsen has met her burden to show the requisite good cause for relief from the District Court's denial of her motion to stay the preliminary injunction.
Here's a copy of the full order. attachment-051722 MT SupCo Election Law
Last month, a judge appointed to the bench by former Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) ruled against the election integrity laws at the request of the Montana Democrat Party.
The Montana Television Network also has a summary of the election integrity laws that will remain in effect for the June primary.
The Montana Supreme Court has temporarily restored new state voting laws for the June primary that prevent same-day voter registration and require voters that use student IDs for identification to bring additional documents.
As MTN also pointed out, election officials across the state had already been trained on the new laws prior to the district judge's order throwing out the election integrity measures. We had calls on the radio after the initial district court decision from poll watchers expressing similar concerns.